Portable hat-rack.



APPL

' J. W. CRAFT.

PORTABLE HAT RACK. IoATIoN FILED kJUNI: 27,1911.

Patented May 28, 1912.

JOHN W. CRAFT, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

PORTABLE HATRACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28,1912.

Application led .Tune 27', 1911. Serial No. 635,536.

To all 'whom t may concern: Y Y,

Be it known that I, JOHN W. CRAFT, al citizen of the United States, and a resident of vthe city of Yonkers, in the county. of Westchester and State of New York, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in .Portable I-Iat-ltacks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements' in hat racks such as are used in hat shops during the process of manufacturing for the purpose of transporting the hats from place v to place.

My kobject is to provide a simple device for this purpose which is so arranged that f the hats therein may be locked in place so that they cannot fall out.

I will describe my invention in the following specification and point out they novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure V1 is a perspective view of a hat rack of this character embodying my, invention. F ig.` 2 is an end elevation of the same device. In Fig. 8 a modified form of a part of the. locking mechanism is shown in end elevation with a part of the frame.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding'parts .in all of the figures.

v10 designates a frame which comprises a pair of longitudinal strips -11 `at the base, and a pair of similar strips 12 onthe top, connected together by a plurality of uprights 13, 13 at their ends vand at intermediate stat-ions. The end uprights are'also connected by diagonal braces 14 and 15. Under the bottom are short transverse boards 16 and across the top are cleats 17, fastened respectively to the strips 11 and'12. The boards 16 form a base forthe frame and these are preferably provided with metallic shoes 18 to facilitate sliding the de.- vice over the floor.

Running longitudinally across the Vuprights 13 are fixed rods .19, 19. The structure described is a rack whichy forms aV plurality of spaces,-in the specific. form shown in the drawingstwelve,-into which hats in various conditions of manufacture are to be placed in an inverted position. Racks of this general form and construction are well known and are in common use, but as these racks are subjected to rough usage, the hats become dislodged easily, resulting in their becoming mixed up and often damaged. To overcome this difficulty, I

`have invented the arrangement which is shown in 'thedrawings and which I will now describe. Between the rear uprights are rotatable rods 20, 2() from each of which project a plurality of pegs or lingers 21, at about t-he centerof each hat compartment. At one end of each of'these rotatable rods is affixed a lever 22. The outer ends of these' Vleversare pivotally connected with an upright actuating rod 23.

28A is a link which connects this rod with a vertically slidable block 24. This block is. guided in a groove in a board 25 which is affixed to the end uprights 13. This board and the groove therein are preferably reinforced by a piece of sheet metal, not

shown. Y

Projecting up vertically from the sides of the block 24 are aV pair of flat metallic springs 26, 26 which have a tendency to `spread apart.

The upper ends of these springs are bent outward as at 27, toform projections which are arranged to engage in notches 28- at the upper end of the guiding groove. Another pair of similar notches 28Aare provided lower ldown on the guiding groove. 29 designates finger pieces pro ject-ing upwardly from the springs 26 by means of which the locking mechanism is n manipulated.

The operation of this device is as follows The compartments, or a desired number of them, are filled with partially or fully completed hats, in inverted position.

One of these is shown in dotted lines at A in Fig. 2. `They then'rest upon t-he rods 19 and upon wires 30 which run between the fixed'rods 19 in the front and the rotatable rods 20 in the rear of the frame. The finger pieces are grasped and squeezed together to release the projections '27 from the notches 28 and by them the block 24 is pusheddownward until the projections 27 `are opposite the notches 28A into which they will spring when the hand is removed from the finger pieces. This movement of the block 24 will move theactuating rod 23 downward, which through its connections kwith the rods 2O will cause them all to have a'partial rotation. Thus all of t-he fingers or pegs 21 will be moveddownward into the position in which one of them is shown at 21A inside of the hats. When the locking mechanism has thus been actuated to movethe pegs 21 into their new positions the hats cannot be removed from the frame.

It is to be noted that the engagement of the projections 27 with the notches 28A securely locks the parts in their new relative positions. They will not be unlocked by any knocks to which the device may be subjected. In fact, they can only be released by again squeezing the iinger pieces 29 to gether and then raising the sliding block 24 to bring the pegs 2l back to their original positions. Then the hats may be released at will. No parts of the locking mechanism projects beyond the frame so that such frames may be piled up together when not in use.

In Fig. 3 another form of actuating mechanism for the locking pegs is shown. In this case 31 is a gear with which racks 32 and 33 engage. The forward ends of these racks project from the forward Part of the frame lO and form push-buttons by means of which the gear may be rotated in one direction or the other. From one side of the gear a slotted lever 8i extends across one side of the actuating rod 23. 35 is a pin on this rod which projects through the slot in lever 3ft. By this arrangement the rotatable rods 20 and the pegs which project therefrom may be moved into positions to lock or to release the hats in the manner previously described.

I have designed and described this device as a portable hat rack, but the novel features thereof are also applicable to stationary racks. Of course, the shape and const-ruction of the frame itself may be varied, as this part of the struct-ure is not a part of the present invention. I have illustrated more than one form of actuating mechanism for the locking device, to show that I do not limit myself to any specific arrangement for accomplishing the result.

What I claim is.-

l. I-n a hat rack, a frame forming a plurality of compartments each adapted to receive a hat, a plurality of rods running across said compartments, holding pegs projecting from said rods within each compartment, and an actuating mechanism arranged to simultaneously rotate said rods to move the pegs into positions to hold the hats within the compartments; said actuating mechanism comprising a slidable block operatively connected to said rods, manual means for moving said block, and means for locking the blockat the ends of its path of movement.

2. In a hat rack, a frame forming a plurality of compartments each adapted to receive a hat, a plurality of rods running across said compartments, holding pegs pro jecting from said rods within each compartment, and an actuating mechanism arranged to simultaneously rotate said rods to move the pegs into positions to hold the hats within the compartments; said actuating mechanism comprising a vertically slidable block operatively connected to said rods, a track therefor provided with notches, and a spring catch aiiixed to the block and arranged to engage with said notches.

3. In a hat rack, a frame forming a plurality of compartments open at the front of the frame each adapted to receive a hat, a plurality of rods running transversely across the back of said compartments, holding pegs projecting from said rods within each compartment, and an actuating mechanism arranged to simultaneously rotate said rods to move the pegs into positions inside of the hats within the compartments; said actuating mechanism comprising a vertically slidable block operatively connected to said rods, a track therefor provided with notches, a pair of springs -aiiixed to the block and arranged to engage with said notches, and finger pieces projecting from said springs.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. CRAFT. lVitnesses HARRY J.- SMiTH, ANMB LAKE.

Copies of this patent may 'De obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

